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Weekend storms leave 11,000 without power

More than 11,000 people lost power during the height of the storms over the weekend.

Funnel clouds were spotted, and at least one tornado was confirmed, in the western Minneapolis suburb of Mound. The National Weather Service is still working to determine the extent of the damage.

Minnesota Public Radio's chief meteorologist Paul Huttner said the cloud cover Saturday afternoon kept temperatures down. But once the skies cleared around sunset, the heat sparked a severe weather system.

"Suddenly right before sunset we got a little break in the clouds and I think that was just enough heating to send those storms into severe mode right around sunset time on Saturday evening," Huttner said. "Once they got going they just continued and tracked their way right through the northwest metro, the north metro and then into St. Croix, Wis."

Grapefruit sized hail was reported in South Dakota. Two to six inches of rain fell around much of the metro area.

Calm weather is predicted this week, with highs in the mid to upper 80s and lots of sunshine.